Large group of workers, mostly women
Item
Dublin Core
Title
Large group of workers, mostly women
Description
This is a photograph of approximately fifty workers for the Scranton Lace Company, taken in 1899. This image highlights the separation between male and female workers, and the large amount of child labor that took place prior to child labor laws. As you look deeper into the photo, more and more faces will pop out as seeming young, with many pictured individuals looking as if they are under the age of fifteen. It is important to note that a large majority of workers during this time were immigrants or other people struggling to make ends meet, hence the large number of children working in the factory. This was not uncommon for the time, in 1870 approximately one out of eight children were working, and this number rose to one in five around 1910. Unfortunately, this practice of child labor continued for many years after this photograph was taken.
In the late 19th century, the factories created with the rise of the Industrial Revolution were at some of their most successful points, the Scranton Lace Company was no exception. Child labor has been a common practice throughout history, as many children were apprentices or servants. This practice, however, reached its peak during the Industrial Revolution. During this time, many families were desperate for work, and many factory workers were either immigrants or were forced to move to industrial areas to make a living. While having small children work factories may not seem appealing, many large factory owners looked to hire children. This is mostly because children would be hired for smaller wages and companies knew that children were not likely to form unions- a practice that allowed workers to band together for better conditions and pay (Shuman, 2017). As you can imagine, this in the end would lead to a cycle of children unable to go to school, and then in most cases, unable to climb the social ladder.
Working conditions for children were just as demanding and dangerous as that of their adult counterparts. It was not abnormal to hear of a child working twelve hour days five to six days a week, working around the same heavy machinery as adults and being tasked with jobs that were ideal for their ‘small hands’ (Schuman, 2017). Children were also subjected to work in sometimes fatal conditions. Factories often consisted of heavy equipment that workers could easily be hurt while operating, not to mention the long term effects of the smoke and fumes created by factories. While there is not much information circulating about the working conditions for workers in the Scranton Lace Company, it can be assumed that it shared the many dangers of its competitors. It can also be assumed that the company did not stop the practices of child labor until forced to, when laws were created defining the legal age of employment.
It was not until 1900, one year after this photo was taken, that a movement to end child labor was in the center of social reformations. In 1904 the National Child Labor Committee was formed, with a goal of emphasizing reform. In the years of 1902 to 1915, images of children working were used to bring awareness and spark outrage among the public. In the 1920s there was a push for a constitutional amendment that was eventually passed in 1924, the problem with this was that not many states wished to ratify it. In fact it was not until 1938 that the Fair Labor Standards Act set a minimum wage, maximum number of work hours per week and set limitations for child labor (History.com Editors, 2009). This means that by the time these laws were implemented the children in this photograph were well into adulthood, and their children most likely also ended up in the vicious cycle of child labor before reform came about.
Ultimately, this image is a stark reminder of how common child labor was in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Many factories at this time hired multiple young workers and the Scranton Lace Company was no exception. Looking at the photograph, it is easy to spot multiple children under the current legal working age, and there is a chance that there were many more young workers that were not included in this specific picture. At the end of the day, child labor was one of the lows in the history of the United States, and thankfully today there are laws to protect the rights of children. Today, laws preventing child labor lead to an increase in childhood education, which allows children to be given to tools to succeed.
References
History.com Editors (2009, October 27). Child Labor. History.com.
https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/child-labor
Michael Schuman, "History of child labor in the United States—part 1: little children working,"
Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2017, https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2017.1
In the late 19th century, the factories created with the rise of the Industrial Revolution were at some of their most successful points, the Scranton Lace Company was no exception. Child labor has been a common practice throughout history, as many children were apprentices or servants. This practice, however, reached its peak during the Industrial Revolution. During this time, many families were desperate for work, and many factory workers were either immigrants or were forced to move to industrial areas to make a living. While having small children work factories may not seem appealing, many large factory owners looked to hire children. This is mostly because children would be hired for smaller wages and companies knew that children were not likely to form unions- a practice that allowed workers to band together for better conditions and pay (Shuman, 2017). As you can imagine, this in the end would lead to a cycle of children unable to go to school, and then in most cases, unable to climb the social ladder.
Working conditions for children were just as demanding and dangerous as that of their adult counterparts. It was not abnormal to hear of a child working twelve hour days five to six days a week, working around the same heavy machinery as adults and being tasked with jobs that were ideal for their ‘small hands’ (Schuman, 2017). Children were also subjected to work in sometimes fatal conditions. Factories often consisted of heavy equipment that workers could easily be hurt while operating, not to mention the long term effects of the smoke and fumes created by factories. While there is not much information circulating about the working conditions for workers in the Scranton Lace Company, it can be assumed that it shared the many dangers of its competitors. It can also be assumed that the company did not stop the practices of child labor until forced to, when laws were created defining the legal age of employment.
It was not until 1900, one year after this photo was taken, that a movement to end child labor was in the center of social reformations. In 1904 the National Child Labor Committee was formed, with a goal of emphasizing reform. In the years of 1902 to 1915, images of children working were used to bring awareness and spark outrage among the public. In the 1920s there was a push for a constitutional amendment that was eventually passed in 1924, the problem with this was that not many states wished to ratify it. In fact it was not until 1938 that the Fair Labor Standards Act set a minimum wage, maximum number of work hours per week and set limitations for child labor (History.com Editors, 2009). This means that by the time these laws were implemented the children in this photograph were well into adulthood, and their children most likely also ended up in the vicious cycle of child labor before reform came about.
Ultimately, this image is a stark reminder of how common child labor was in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Many factories at this time hired multiple young workers and the Scranton Lace Company was no exception. Looking at the photograph, it is easy to spot multiple children under the current legal working age, and there is a chance that there were many more young workers that were not included in this specific picture. At the end of the day, child labor was one of the lows in the history of the United States, and thankfully today there are laws to protect the rights of children. Today, laws preventing child labor lead to an increase in childhood education, which allows children to be given to tools to succeed.
References
History.com Editors (2009, October 27). Child Labor. History.com.
https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/child-labor
Michael Schuman, "History of child labor in the United States—part 1: little children working,"
Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2017, https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2017.1
Creator
Kalie Fernandez-Naughton
Source
Scranton Lace Company Archives
Publisher
Kalie Fernandez-Naughton
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
photo
Collection
Citation
Kalie Fernandez-Naughton, “Large group of workers, mostly women,” Documenting the Scranton Lace Company, accessed July 13, 2025, https://scrantonlacecompany.omeka.net/items/show/48.